SAGINAW, MI — Bank robbery and conspiracy charges against two Saginaw men were dismissed when a Saginaw judge ruled that the evidence presented was not enough for probable cause during a preliminary hearing.

The charges against Michael G. Boutte and Larae D. Nelson stem from an April 15, 2013, bank robbery at Citizens Bank, now First Merit Bank, at 2815 E. Genesee on Saginaw's East Side.

The prosecution on Monday, March 10, attempted to link Boutte to the crime comparing bank-surveillance photographs to a Michigan Department of Corrections photograph. The MDOC photo was taken at a later date and both photos showed a white spot on the man's black jacket in the same general area, according to testimony.

The prosecution also relied on statements from Nelson to link Boutte to the crime and testimony from several people at the bank or nearby when the robbery occurred to describe the sequence of events.

Saginaw County Assistant Prosecutor Richard King called two bank tellers, a bank customer, a man who lives near the bank, a Michigan Department of Corrections officer and a Saginaw Police officer to testify.

Bank teller Lorraine McMillan said she was working about 11:30 a.m. April 15, 2013, when a man wearing a hat and a cloth covering his face came to the bank and handed her a note.

When asked what the note said, the witness said, "Shoot."

"It had other words on it, but I saw that and I fell to the ground," McMillan said.

The note and two other pieces of paper handed to the teller were entered as evidence in the case. The top note that the teller saw reads, "20 seconds before I shoot. Empty your $."

The teller testified that the masked man handed her a McDonald's bag that she then filled with more than $2,000 before handing it back to the man. The bandit then left the bank, she said.

A customer at the bank who was at the teller window next to McMillan's testified he saw the masked man holding a screwdriver in his left hand and pull a black pistol from his waistband, holding it by its side before putting it back in his waistband as he stood before the teller. He whispered, "He's got a gun," to the teller, he said.

That teller, Kimberley Yurgens, was working at the teller station next to McMillan's on the day of the robbery, she said. She realized the bank was being robbed and, afterward, she went to the door and locked it, seeing a man riding a bicycle away from the bank across Genesee and onto Hiland.

Saginaw resident John Judd testified he lives on Hiland east of Genesee and he was outside of his house waiting for the mailman on April 15, 2013, when he noticed a car stopped on the road and the driver exited. He said the driver walked behind the vehicle and flipped the license plate down before opening the back door on the driver's side of the vehicle.

Judd said he then saw a man wearing a "hoodie" riding a bike pretty fast, estimating 15 to 20 mph, on Hiland coming from East Genesee. He did not see the man get off the bike but noticed soon after that the bike was left in his neighbor's yard and the car was gone.

Saginaw Police Department Detective Ryan Oberle testified he viewed security footage from the bank robbery that shows a man wearing a black jacket with a white mark on the upper right breast area.

He testified that he obtained a photograph from the Michigan Department of Corrections of Boutte, taken on May 17, 2013, about a month after the bank robbery. The photograph shows him wearing a black jacket with a white spot in approximately the same spot, Oberle said.

Oberle said he examined a self-assessment statement handwritten by Boutte and compared the sample to the note handed to the teller. Oberle said "some of the letters appear to be very similar to me" and noted in both documents, the writer had went over some portions of the text more than once to make them appear in bold.

Oberle said police officers in Saginaw noticed a vehicle that fit the description of the one described by Judd possibly connected to the robbery and made a traffic stop May 2, 2013.

Nelson was driving the car, Oberle said.

Oberle said he spoke to Nelson "a couple months ago" when Nelson was in another facility. Oberle said Nelson told him he did drive the car on Hiland and did get out to check something on the rear of the vehicle, flipping down the license plate.

Oberle said Nelson told him Boutte came riding up to the car on a bike, jumping off and getting in the car yelling "go, go go."

Obelre said Nelson told him he was in the area because he was giving a ride to Boutte, saying Boutte told him he planned to ride his bicycle to his grandmother's house in the neighborhood. Oberle said Nelson told him he did not drive Boutte to the house because Nelson believed Boutte might be targeted by members of the H-and-R boys, a gang centered in the Saginaw High School neighborhood near the bank.

"He just assumed Boutte was being chased by a gang member, that's why he sped away," Oberle said.

Saginaw County District Court Judge M.T. Thompson ruled that the prosecution failed to provide enough evidence to prove that the two defendants did what is outlined in the criminal complaint.

He said he did not know if Boutte was wearing the same black jacket in both photographs that were compared, saying one looks quilted and the other does not. The testimony also was flawed, Thompson concluded.

"The hearsay testimony coming from Mr. Nelson, in the court's opinion, can't be used by itself to establish guilt even at the preliminary level, to establish guilt of the co-defendant and it doesn't, by itself, establish that Mr. Nelson did anything wrong," Thompson said.

Nelson's attorney, Bruce E. Petrick, said following the hearing, "There was absolutely no evidence tying my client to the bank robbery."

In addition to the robbery and conspiracy charges, which carry maximum penalties of life in prison, the men were charged with possessing a firearm as a felon and two counts of possessing a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Petrick said the prosecution has the option to choose to appeal the judge's decision or further investigate the case to refile the charges at a later time.